Lodge-hopping... from the Pacific Northwest to an African Savannah: A July 2009 TR!

Last week we returned from our summer Disney fix so it’s time again for another monster trip report!! This one is sure to dwarf my previous reports in sheer size alone considering it was a 9 night/10 day stay at WDW and all our past trips have ranged from 3-5 night stays. I must say it’s a bit daunting, but I took detailed notes and am ready to relive our adventures (and possibly bore you with all the details)!!

The cast includes myself, Holly; the birthday boy, Brett; his parents, Kathy and Danny; and brother, Derek. Here’s one of the few pictures I have of us all from our December 2008 trip:

The planning stages of this trip went through many variations. So let’s start at the beginning… ever since the “Celebrate” theme was released I wanted to plan a trip for Brett’s birthday. We started putting it into action sometime in early April and not long after we settled on dates and made reservations, Brett’s parents invited us to join them on their summer trip to the Wilderness Lodge Villas. It just so happened to be close to the dates we were already looking at, so we talked about it and decided if we budgeted right we could do a super trip. Woohoo for super trips :sohappy:.

We changed our dates slightly to line up with theirs, and then I cancelled our ADRs and made some new ones. Since we were on a budget we decided a value resort was a must (and we should forego signature dining)… no ifs, ands or buts about it. Or at least that’s what Brett thought… I, however, had other plans! I got it into my head that it would be so cool to surprise him with a deluxe resort so we wouldn’t, you know, be slumming when we left the WL :lol:. Once I had my mind set I practically took up a vigil waiting for the AP resort rates to be released. And when they were I snagged a pool view room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our four night stay! Oh yeah… and we couldn’t possibly celebrate his birthday without some wine and signature dining so I made reservations for Jiko!

To make a long story even longer, Brett called me at work one day and told me his parents had to make a slight change to their dates, which meant we would either have to do the same or lose some days of “our” trip. I was freaking out (and couldn’t tell him) because I just knew the AP rate would no longer be available… and it wasn’t. So I started calling once or twice a day, every day. I can still recite the confirmation number! I was in luck though, because after three weeks of calling the AP rate magically reappeared!!! I guess I’m sharing all this basically to say sometimes it pays to be persistent. Let me just tell you… keeping this secret nearly killed me, but it was totally worth it!

Okay, so now that we've gotten all of that out of the way… let us finally begin.

 

[mouselvrmom]

:lol: Love the Lady Tremaine and daughters pics!

 

[eagles]

love the pics, terrific character interaction.

 

[HollyBelle]

OMG! You wore white shorts into a park and rode a wet ride?! I'm too chicken to even try wearing white shorts because I just know I'll end up with grubby-dirty-hiney-syndrome like I've been draggin' my backside thru the dirt. And on a wet ride! You are brave, chicca! LOL!

I've never had the Plaza before but have been thinkin' we should try it. I wonder if there will be other options for in-park breakfast in January if what I read about Crystal Palace being closed for refurb January/February are true. Brett's b-day cupcake does look yummy. I see he also received the "birthday check". Gotta love it! :lol::lol:

I loooove Lady T & the girls! I met them for the 1st time in May at 1900 Park Fare and they were a hoot. :lol:

Hah...don't feel too sorry for Brett, I picked up the real birthday tab at Jiko! But it's funny you noticed that.

I actually wasn't thinking much about my shorts... they're actually khakis, although they are rather light. I do make a conscious effort not to wear dresses or short skirts when we go to MK, usually because it causes major problems getting on/off Space Mountain. :ROFLOL:

I would love to see the Plaza offer a breakfast option, but you should definitely consider trying lunch their sometime.

:lol: Love the Lady Tremaine and daughters pics!

Me too! Their actions are outrageous. Brett and I think there should be a Gaston meet and greet because he would be the male equivalent of the Tremaine's... constantly talking in the third person about how no one's as manly as Gaston or as great. Always assuming the ladies in line are there to fawn all over him. It would be hilarious!

love the pics, terrific character interaction.

Thanks, eagles!!! Gotta love the characters. :sohappy:

 

[HollyBelle]

When we were finished with lunch we thought an afternoon at the new Kidani pool would be fun so we went back to the resort, changed and headed off to Kidani…. or NOT. Multiple CMs had told us that if you hop on the DTD bus it will take you over to Kidani and then to get back you can use any other bus because it will go to Jambo House before leaving the AKL property. I really don’t like the bus system, and realize I’m a bit spoiled because we always have access to our own vehicle while we’re there. So I still can’t figure out why I thought it would be a good idea to use them to begin with instead of walking or taking the car. :shrug: But off to the bus stop we went.

After waiting 30 minutes (again, don’t know why we didn’t just up and go to the car), we finally got on the DTD bus. When it pulled out of the lot it went LEFT. We’d been had. It took off for Downtown Disney and there was nothing we could do but ride the loop around. I was so incredibly mad. I’m not kidding you, there was probably steam coming out of my ears. It took the full 45 minute loop for Brett to calm me down. And to top it off… when we got back, the driver did what he was supposed to do and pulled into Jambo House first. Grrrrrr. The drivers really need to stick with the route. So word of advice to anyone planning to use the busses to get from one property to the other… ask the driver which way he’s going before he takes off!

Even the signs tell you to use the DTD bus to get to Kidani:

It was overcast and about to rain so we just got back off the bus and went to our room. I seethed over a cold Landshark Lager and eventually let it go!

We got ready for dinner and made our way over to the Yacht Club a little early. I wandered around and took some pictures while we were waiting for our reservation time.

Some thunder was rumbling in the distance so Stormalong Bay had been cleared, making it an opportune time for pictures. I can’t wait until December because we’ll finally get a chance to relax and swim here:

We checked in at the Captain’s Grille and were shown to a table right away; the place was empty.

This was our first time eating here and to be honest I didn’t really have high expectations for it. I don’t know why that is, maybe because you never hear much about the place, but I just wasn’t expecting much. We were pleasantly surprised by the food. I had crab cakes (again) because I wasn’t hungry enough for a huge meal and Brett ordered the chicken breast with mushroom pearl pasta. And, wow, was his chicken good. It was really moist and the pearl pasta was delicious!

No special birthday attention at the Captain’s Grille for those of you who might be looking for fun birthday meals. But that’s okay because we were so stuffed from all the food. It was about 7:15 and we debated whether or not to move the car to the front entrance of Epcot, but in the end we decided to hop on over via the International Gateway. Tsk Tsk!

 

[HollyBelle]

I really love the atmosphere in England in the evenings; you just can’t beat the British Invasion, as they’re quintessential World Showcase. And I love that they embody all different aspects of Beatlemania… this particular night they were all Sergeant Peppered up!

From England, we found ourselves headed into Future World, where we took a little time to enjoy the Fountain of Nations (one of my favorite things about Epcot) before walking on Spaceship Earth. After laughing at our future selves and sending the email home as a fun reminder for later, we powered a city… it’s such a great little Project Tomorrow game!

From SSE we made our way to Test Track and then found ourselves in Mexico checking out all the Animales Fantasticos. I really wanted to get one but they’re so delicate and frail that I fear it would break before we ever made it home.

We slowly meandered through World Showcase as the sun was setting.

Eventually we came upon our destination: the American Gardens Theatre. The “Sounds Like Summer” concert series was in full swing and this week 52nd Street was playing (a Billy Joel tribute band). I grabbed a seat while Brett ran up to one of the kiosks to get a funnel cake and bottle of water. He said when he got out his wallet to pay the CM told him Happy Birthday and not to worry about it! Ahhh Birthday magic… only at Disney World! We got to hear one of my Billy Joel favorites, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant! Thank goodness they played it well because the last time we heard this song was in a piano bar on a cruise ship, and believe me when I tell you I thought the song had been murdered for life!

After the show we found a place near Japan from which to watch Illuminations. Words can’t describe it. The musical score alone gets me every time. Nough said!

When the show was over we exited the park and headed back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Another fantastic Disney day down!


Up next: a little Animal Kingdom pixie dust and we finally make it over to the Kidani pool!

 

[Mukta]

Thanks for the update! I just read a bunch so I will comment on everything that I can remember.
I loved the way you surprised Brett. The Lodge looks fabulous. I am glad you are getting some quality alone time.
I love meeting Lady T and Family. They are always awesome. Splash is one of my favorites too.
Your chipmunk pictures crack me up!
Last year I ate the pearl pasta at Captain's Grille. I made reservations again for this year just to eat it again! I am going to ask for a whole plate of it sans chicken.
I have reservations at Sanaa this year so I hope the bus thing doesn't mess us up. Thanks for the bus tip.
Your pictures of Stomalong Bay made me homesick. 15 more days!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Your report is so fun, Holly. You take great character pictures. The Lady Temaine series is so funny! I also must say, I can not believe how many sit down meals you eat! It's awesome!! You would have to roll me from one restaurant to the next though.:lol:

 

[disneygirl1]

Great update and awesome pictures Holly!!! Thanks for the info about the characters at Animation in DHS!!! I sure hope they are still doing that in Sept. too!!!

P.S. love Bretts hat in the bus stop picture!!! Go Eagles!!!

 

[mouselvrmom]

I love Brett's puzzled bus stop picture! :lol:

We've been frustrated trying to get from MK to Wilderness Lodge for an early morning breakfast. The boat wasn't running yet, and all the buses at the WL stop were letting people off but not returning there. I was steaming much like you were I'm sure.

 

[diddy_mouse]

Looking at your early morning pictures I gotta say I think I'll try to make it to an opening one of these days. :lol: I love how everything looks and it's the same way right before sunset. World Showcase is an awesome place to walk around during that time of day. But MK is still my favorite at dusk...right as the lights start to turn on.

Oh, and I definitely want to eat at The Plaza! DH and I walk past it so often but have never eaten there. *adds it to list of things for next trip*

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Did I spot some not-so-hidden Mickey's on your AKL shower curtain? Sweet!

Hey, there's the pool-view rooms!! LOL

Yacht Club is one resort we've never spent much time at, unless you count the Friendship Boats docking there! It is just beautiful!

I just have to say how I love the way you guys really just enjoy being there rather than doing everything. Although with a super trip you are inevitably going to end up doing everything eventually, but you know what I mean.

 

[HollyBelle]

Thanks for the update! I just read a bunch so I will comment on everything that I can remember.
I loved the way you surprised Brett. The Lodge looks fabulous. I am glad you are getting some quality alone time.
I love meeting Lady T and Family. They are always awesome. Splash is one of my favorites too.
Your chipmunk pictures crack me up!
Last year I ate the pearl pasta at Captain's Grille. I made reservations again for this year just to eat it again! I am going to ask for a whole plate of it sans chicken.
I have reservations at Sanaa this year so I hope the bus thing doesn't mess us up. Thanks for the bus tip.
Your pictures of Stomalong Bay made me homesick. 15 more days!

Ooooh... you'll be there before you know it! :sohappy: I think you'll really enjoy Sanaa. While I didn't really like what I ordered, the meal as a whole was great and the ambience was perfect. And you aren't kidding about that pearl pasta... it was sooooo good.

As for us getting some alone time... we've been thinking we should add at least 2 days to all of our trips with his family. A) this way we can get somewhat of a super trip out of it, and B) we just love having our time and doing things our way!

Your report is so fun, Holly. You take great character pictures. The Lady Temaine series is so funny! I also must say, I can not believe how many sit down meals you eat! It's awesome!! You would have to roll me from one restaurant to the next though.:lol:

Thanks, Tammy. Yeah... we're big foodie fans and LOVE our table service. However, believe it or not, neither one of us is really a big eater. One reason buffets are a bad choice for us. We rarely ever do appetizers or desserts (exception being all these free birthday desserts!) unless we substitute one of those for one of our meals. Plus, we don't snack much between our meals.

Great update and awesome pictures Holly!!! Thanks for the info about the characters at Animation in DHS!!! I sure hope they are still doing that in Sept. too!!!

P.S. love Bretts hat in the bus stop picture!!! Go Eagles!!!

FLY EAGLES FLY! Brett's certainly ready for football season to begin!

I love Brett's puzzled bus stop picture! :lol:

We've been frustrated trying to get from MK to Wilderness Lodge for an early morning breakfast. The boat wasn't running yet, and all the buses at the WL stop were letting people off but not returning there. I was steaming much like you were I'm sure.

Yeah as we were riding back we kept thinking, did we misunderstand all those people who told us to take the DTD bus. Then we saw the sign when we got back. More than anything, I hate feeling like my time is being wasted when we're at Disney World. Probably why I've never really liked the bus system.

Looking at your early morning pictures I gotta say I think I'll try to make it to an opening one of these days. :lol: I love how everything looks and it's the same way right before sunset. World Showcase is an awesome place to walk around during that time of day. But MK is still my favorite at dusk...right as the lights start to turn on.

Oh, and I definitely want to eat at The Plaza! DH and I walk past it so often but have never eaten there. *adds it to list of things for next trip*

You won't be disappointed if you make it to an opening. It's more than worth getting up early. Definitely go to the Plaza. It's such a fun experience and the food is consistently good. Plus, they do milkshakes!!

Did I spot some not-so-hidden Mickey's on your AKL shower curtain? Sweet!

Hey, there's the pool-view rooms!! LOL

Yacht Club is one resort we've never spent much time at, unless you count the Friendship Boats docking there! It is just beautiful!

I just have to say how I love the way you guys really just enjoy being there rather than doing everything. Although with a super trip you are inevitably going to end up doing everything eventually, but you know what I mean.

That's funny.... I said the same thing about those pool view rooms when I was taking the picture! :lol:

I think you did a great job summing up our approach to Disney, and I'm glad it comes through in my trip report. More than anything we just enjoy being there. While I love all the rides and shows, they're not what bring us back time and time again. After multiple trips we've really come to enjoy the little things!

 

[HollyBelle]

Day 8, Saturday, July 18: Animal Kingdom/Epcot

Saturday morning we woke up early again and ran down to Mara for some breakfast. I love the muffins at Sunshine Seasons so I figured they’d be the same at the Mara… not so much. My blueberry muffin was sans blueberries.

We decided to utilize the extra magic hour at the Animal Kingdom and were there bright and early. Not wanting to wait for a tram, we took off walking to the entrance from the parking lot and a parking CM in a golf cart rolled up to us and asked if we’d like a ride. Ummm… sure. Now kids, don’t get any ideas… in the real world you don’t accept rides from strangers!! We chatted a bit with him as he took us to the front and then he handed us a Magical Moments certificate and two “Honorary Citizens of WDW” buttons for us to wear throughout the day. I love how Disney does little things like this. While it was fun for us, I think it’s just as much fun for the CMs to have some freedom in providing pixie dust for guests. Kind of like the gentleman who gave Brett a free funnel cake. It’s a nice touch.

Then when we got in line to enter the park another CM came by and handed us fastpasses for one of the Festival of the Lion King shows! Woohoo Disney magic. After the opening show we followed the truck towards Africa. Nothing like a safari to start off the day. The animals didn’t think so. We didn’t see many, and the ones we did see weren’t in the mood to turn around and pose for us:

We made our way to Asia to get fastpasses for Kali River. We figured we’d come back once the morning really heated up. When we got on over to Everest I noticed there weren’t any trains running. So we continued on to Dino-Rama and eventually to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur.

Despite evidence to the contrary… I was in fact clothed in this picture :

We went back to Expedition Everest and it was still closed. Argghh… what’s with these mountains? In this trip alone we saw Expedition Everest, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder all down due to issues, in addition to Space Mountain.

Since we couldn't ride Everest, we just continued to make our way around the park and stopped briefly to meet Louie and Baloo:

Next, we went over to Camp Minnie Mickey and decided to find some nice people to give our FOTLK fastpasses to since we weren’t going to stay for the show. It was fun to pass along the magic.

Our fastpass time was up at Kali River; back to Asia we went to get in line. On the way we passed this guy hanging out by Creature Comforts. He was much more willing to pose for me than the giraffe out on the safari earlier:

 

[HollyBelle]

Wowza… the standby line had a 75 minute wait already. I hadn’t ridden Kali River since 2004. I mean, you’re bound to get absolutely drenched, which would be fine if the ride was amazing. But it really isn’t. Knowing the original concept of having live tigers all over the place kind of makes the ride seem boring. Also there’s only one big drop, and as a whole the river is really short. Dare I say it, but the Popeye ride at Islands of Adventure kicks Kali’s butt any day.

So this was my chance to get my fill of Kali River pictures… because it’s not a ride we frequent often.

 

[HollyBelle]

After the Rapids we walked through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Looks like we weren’t the only ones using the Trek to dry off, so many people walking through there were soaked from Kali. We didn’t see many tigers… I think it was just too hot for them.

Maharajah murals:

And I love the flags strung across the walkway:

 

[mouselvrmom]

Love you Ak pictures! I don't particularly care for Kali Rapids either. Probably because I don't really like to get wet! :lol:

 

[HollyBelle]

Next we headed out of the park for our second attempt at enjoying Samawati Springs, the Kidani pool area. And this one went much smoother. We hopped in the car and were there in about 2 minutes. I LOVED the pool. It’s a bit odd that it’s across the parking lot from the main entrance, but once you’re over there it’s easy to forget about the lot.

You enter up near this area and then actually go down some stairs to get to the pool and play area:

Here’s a view of Uwanji from the entrance area (we walked around over there but I wasn’t crazy impressed with it. It’s great for the littlest ones though. I don’t think older kids would be too impressed:

The hot tub is actually up top near the start of the slide:

The slide is great! Brett’s favorite of all the resort slides he’s tried. None of my pictures do it justice.

The top:

The above picture was taken from the bridge in the picture below (maybe that’ll give you an idea of it’s length/shape). Yep... that's me:

The newer loungers... love these:

And the entrance to the kids play area:

Here’s the thing… I took all kinds of pictures, yet I don’t have any establishing shots of the actual pool or slide. Dohh. Sorry guys! You’ll just have to take my word for it and go check it out yourselves!!

 

[HollyBelle]

After our morning pool break, we headed back over to Jambo House to clean up and get ready for Epcot!! Once we got to the park we went to Innoventions and signed up to help Kim Possible rid the world of evilness… some of the villains we were gearing up to take down:

In particular… we were after Professor Dementor:

We were sent to Germany and I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll leave out the details. I will say though, this was our least favorite KP country that we’ve experienced so far. In order, I prefer England, Norway, China, Mexico, and then Germany. That being said, they’re all so fun!

Brett, in stealth mode outside of Volkskunst! We don’t want Professor Dementor to catch on and foil our plan:

We didn’t have lunch reservations and told ourselves we’d get some counter service somewhere. What did we do?! What we always do… found tasty table service. Nine Dragons was calling our names. LOVE this place! Brett had his usual, the kung pao chicken. Instead of the Nine Dragons fried rice, or the orange chicken I usually get, I decided on the shrimp and pork egg rolls with a side of fried rice:

After lunch our server surprised Brett with his first birthday card of the trip and a yummy birthday dessert, all accompanied with a birthday song, of course!! Woohoo… delicious vanilla ginger cakey goodness!!

The card was signed with traditional Chinese kanji characters and was very cool!

 

[HollyBelle]

We spent a little more time enjoying World Showcase and then left the park. Okay, for those of you who followed along with my marathon report back in January, you know Brett and I were picked to be grand marshals in Mickey’s Jammin Jungle Parade. :sohappy: I absolutely loved this experience and could go on and on about it! Well, when we got home and I was trying to make a scrapbook page, I realized I didn’t have enough parade pictures to include. Sooooo one of the only things on my agenda to accomplish during this trip was watching the parade and getting those pictures. Therefore, we went back to the Animal Kingdom with this sole purpose in mind.

We were early enough to get a good spot right near the fruit stands outside the safari where the parade begins, this way I would have a clear shot of all the characters and floats. It was drizzling and I was really hoping it would clear up and the parade wouldn’t be cancelled. From our vantage point we could see the day’s grand marshals and other parade attendees waiting out the rain under the KS entrance structure; the CM who picked us in January was standing with them. They put something like 16-20 people in this parade daily and back in January we were told that sometimes the families they pick earlier in the day don’t show up and at the last minute they’ll have to grab someone else. This is exactly what happened. We watched as the CM ran out and grabbed a family of four and started talking to them. Lucky ducks!

Then all of a sudden the CM was back and headed straight for us! We knew what was about to happen! No small talk this time… there was a parade about to start. He simply said hi and asked if we’d like VIP seating for the parade. We said “YES” immediately. There was a fleeting moment after we accepted when I felt a tad guilty and thought maybe we should have turned it down… I mean we’d already had our turn. But I got over that rather quickly… I was so excited to do it again!

When we got backstage they already had the grand marshals up on the Rafiki float and were getting everyone else situated. Once we had our gear on, one of the entertainment CMs walked us all the way back to the very end… you know what that means: MICKEY’S FLOAT! On our way back there we passed all the characters as they were coming out and going to their places. We got some great character interaction with Terk, Pluto and Donald Duck along the way.

Unlike the last time where we boarded the float right in front of the gate, this time we were way in the back. There was a lot beside us full of safari vehicles, like 20 of ‘em, which was odd to see. Eventually we passed through the gates to a roar of cheers and waves… no doubt Mickey’s doing!

Our view:

We got to follow my favorite pup:

We knew the words to the song and not long after we got on the route I had the dance moves down (the ones the entertainment CMs in front of us were doing). Brett picked up on them quickly and we even started throwing a few of our own in there. Waving is boring. :wave: :lol: Somewhere near Yak and Yeti two CMs along the route were cracking up at us… they actually came backstage when it was over to tell us we were having too much fun. And the CM who picked us said people kept calling out on the radio… “You’ve gotta see this, just wait until the two on the Mickey float come around.” Hmm… don’t know if that’s good or bad. They did jokingly ask us what we were doing the next day at 4pm.

So… I didn’t get my parade pictures. But I’m more than okay with the trade off. We’re just gonna have to go back again!!


Up next: Relaxing at AKL and dinner at Jiko!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I can't believe you were picked again!! That is so awesome!!:sohappy:

You do look a little nekkid in the car!:lol: